Young up-and-coming off-road racer Christopher Polvoorde, a regularly featured focus on Off Road Xtreme through the Off-Roading With Christopher Polvoorde series, made big moves out at the 2022 King Of The Hammers to become the Toyo Tires Desert Challenge Champion. Racing his #294 OPTIMA Batteries Ford Raptor Spec Trophy Truck, in the T2 division, Polvoorde raced through a large field of unlimited and limited desert racers to take his class win and 2nd overall out of all other competitors. There were 49 starters and 31 finishers.
“To say I am stoked is an understatement!” stated Christopher. “We took 1st place in Spec Trophy Truck and 2nd place overall. Huge thanks to my whole team & family for giving me a fast truck and support all day out here at Hammers. Big thanks to all my partners like Optima Batteries, Ford Performance, and Toyo Tires who helped me & the CP94 program get on top of the box. This is a day I will never forget. It still has not fully set in. Thank you to everyone who makes this possible.”
The Toyo Tires Desert Challenge – T1, T2, and B1 Desert Race
The Toyo Tires Desert Challenge featured three different classes of off-road vehicles, T1 (Unlimited Trophy Truck), T2 (Spec Trophy Truck), and B1 (Unlimited Class 1 Buggies). This unique event included an early morning 33-mile prologue lap. Racers with the fastest times would be stacked accordingly to re-start the race portion which presented three more 84-mile laps. The overall race time would combine the prologue and all 3 laps to determine event finish ranking.
Christopher Polvoorde scored a very strong eighth place overall starting position during the prologue as the quickest T2 at the top. He went onto finish the event trouble-free in his Mason Motorsports Spec Trophy Truck chassis for his division win and a 2nd overall finish.
Toyo Tires Desert Challenge – T1, T2, and B1 Prologue
The #294 Optima Batteries T2 Ford Raptor was lined up against and facing a multitude of unlimited class desert racers which included the sports very best. The seriously competitive field of elite off-road racers featured names like; Bryce Menzies who has won or led until he broke every event for the last several seasons. Luke McMillin has won or been on the podium for the last 13 races in a row. This includes a Baja 1000 win, and a Mint 400 Podium. Kyle Jergensen, 2021 Best In The desert Trick Truck Champion. And NASCAR racer Justin Lofton is one of the most talented in all of off-road racing.
Polvoorde Makes History As The Highest Ranked Finisher With A Spec Trophy Truck
Besides Jergensen, who took the overall win, Polvoorde beat out all of these impressive race efforts with his total time on course of 4 Hours, 55 Minutes, and 45.094 Seconds. Christopher finished the race physically in 2nd place to earn 2nd place overall and the T2 win. The 2nd overall finish puts Polvoorde in the history books as the highest-ranked race finisher in a spec Trophy Truck for any major desert race. Click here for official Toyo Tires Desert Challenge Results.
Most notably is that the unlimited T1 class vehicles have no limits on engine modifications compared to the spec Trophy Truck’s limited engines of the T2 class. This big win is the first for Polvoorde who entered only several desert racing events last year. Off Road Xtreme ran a recent feature on the new desert racing program called Hot Laps and Helicopters: Off-ROad With Christopher Polvoorde.
Desert Challenge Champion Of The T2 Division and 2nd Overall
Christopher and Co-driver, Bryce Romine, had a good clean run with no penalties. Besides changing out two tires during this extremely rough desert race, they never had to get out of the truck. The #294 Mason Motorsports truck chassis was finished and outfitted with an onboard hydraulic jack system by Polvoorde Racing Crew Chief Jimmy Davidson.
Polvoorde commented about the race. “Between the dust, spending that much time in the car and so many other variables, it is a tough race to finish. We had a lot of close races recently, and now that we have got it done, it just feels unreal. I want to give a huge thank you to my whole crew especially, Jimmy Davidson, for building a beast of a truck. Thanks to my best friend and co-dawg, Bryce, for putting in the work in and out of the race truck and during prerunning. Thanks to my family and friends who are all so supportive, and a very big thank you to all the partners who support the CP94 program.”
